Time and Time again
by Metal K
Summary: After the Doctor has been shot by gunmen, he regenerates into his new form. Sam Beckett has leaped into the body of a mysterious figure who owns a strange blue box which defies the laws of physics. What has happened to the Time Travellers? 10th11th Doctor
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Doctor Who or Quantum Leap. This story is set after New Earth, but is just a general leap for Sam.

The Doctor closed the Tardis doors behind him. Now that Cassandra was gone forever, perhaps He and Rose could go actually do some time travelling without interruption.

"Right," Rose said, already standing beside one of the control panels. "Where to now?"

"Well, I thought we might check out a planet on the edge of the Sunaris system. It's got a purple sun; great sunsets. The sky looks like it's raining grapes."

"Cool."

"But first," The Doctor said, walking slightly hurriedly towards one of the doors at the other end of the control room. "I need to make a quick pit stop. Just because I'm a Time Lord doesn't mean I can't take a leak."

Rose forced herself no to ask whether Time Lords sat down or stood up.

"Oh, do me a favour," The Doctor turned back. "Activate the quantum-pseudo calibrator."

"Eh?"

"Press the red button."

"Oh."

Rose obligingly pushed the solitary red button on the panel in front of her and the deep hum of the Tardis engines filled the room. She took a moment to wonder at the ship. What made it go? How did the outside fit around the inside? She never really watched _Star Trek_ much, but standing inside a spaceship/time machine she couldn't help but marvel at the technology. Were she twelve years younger she wouldn't have been able to resist pushing every button and pulling every lever in front of her. She paced around the controls, waiting for the Doctor.

Far away, an eye was fixed on Rose, watching the young girl walk around the Tardis, watching her every movement. The screen showing the inside of the Tardis wavered for a moment as the Doctor's ship moved away in space and time. The second ship followed silently, masked behind its cloaking field. The eye watching Rose blinked, never for a moment averting its gaze, an almost mechanical impulse behind its movements. Still not looking away, an arm belonging to the creature whose eyes were so intently fixed upon the Doctor's young companion reached out and flicked a switch on the dashboard beside the screen. The cloaked ship increased its speed, following silently after the Tardis.

The Tardis materialised on a street corner of a litter-covered street, the evening breeze blowing bits of paper around. The door of the police box opened and the Doctor stepped out, followed closely by Rose.

"Hang on…" The Doctor checked himself as he looked around. "This isn't right."

"This doesn't look much like an alien planet. More like we're back in London."

"East London, 1985." The Doctor added. "But how we got here stumps me." He began down the street, his hands thrust in the pockets of his brown overcoat.

"Shouldn't we go back to the Tardis?" Rose called after him. "Maybe it was just a mistake."

"The Tardis doesn't make mistakes." The Doctor called back over his shoulders. "Especially not when I'm piloting it. No. Someone wants me here, and somehow tapped into the Tardis controls and brought it here." He stopped and turned back to Rose. "Well? Aren't you coming?"

Rose grinned and ran after him.

Just in time to avoid the volley of bullets splitting the air where she had just been.

The Doctor ran to stand between her and the gunmen, who had just appeared from behind a street corner. He grabbed his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the gunmen, pressing a button and de-activating the firing mechanisms on the machine guns. He grabbed Rose and turned, sprinting away.

They stopped about three streets away and crouched behind an old, rusting yellow skip.

"Who were they?" Rose panted.

"I don't know, but they're out of place. Those guns are way too modern for this era. We've got to get back to the Tardis."

They froze as they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Hold on, I've got an idea." Rose said. "Take off your coat."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

The Doctor struggled out of his coat and handed it to Rose, who grabbed it and ran out from behind the skip, waving it about wildly in front of her.

"Be careful!" The Doctor called out. "And don't get it dirty!"

To the gunmen, Rose must have looked like a flying brown blob as she ran towards them. She flinched as the bullets zipped past her through the coat, but kept on going. Blindly, she crashed into one of the gunmen, knocking him to the ground. Before he could recover, Rose had grabbed his machine gun and was pointing it at the other two.

"Alright! Put your guns down!" Slowly, they obliged, raising their hands and dropping their weapons. "Doctor!" Rose called out. "You can come out now!"

The Doctor's head poked out from behind the skip, and, summing up the situation in a glance, stood up and jogged towards Rose.

"Right, well done." He congratulated her. "Now, where's my coat?" He grabbed the crumpled heap off the floor and pulled it on. "Ooooh," He whined. "It's full of holes!"

"Don't we have more important things to discuss?" Rose pointed out.

"Eh?" The Doctor looked around and seemed to notice the gunmen for the first time. "Oh, right. Now then, you lot." He stepped up to the tallest man and held the sonic screwdriver under his chin threateningly. "Who are you?"

The gunman snarled and breathed in the Doctor's face.

Breathed green gas.

The Doctor ducked down reflexively, but this distraction was enough for the man still on the floor to grab Rose's feet and pull her down. Grabbing her gun, he stood up and fired a volley at the Doctor, who was back on his feet.

He got him square in the chest.

Rose screamed, but the Doctor just looked down at the blood oozing through his suit.

"Oh, bugger." He said, and collapsed.

The gunmen ran, as if all they had come to do was kill the Doctor. Rose ran to him and knelt down beside him. She felt his hearts, but neither of them were beating. She thumped her fists onto his chest. "Come on!" She cried. Feeling his hearts again, she thrust her mouth onto his and blew, trying to get air back into his lungs. But to no avail. She tried and tried, but he refused to come back to life. Finally, she rested her head on his chest and sobbed. No. He couldn't be dead. After all they'd been through together. She had hardly got to know this new Doctor. What would she do now? He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't.

She felt heat. And one by one, his hearts began to beat again. Rose raised her head, and saw a glow envelope the Doctor's face. Of course! He was regenerating! As Rose watched, his face began to change beneath the glow. And slowly, it subsided, and Rose found herself staring into the face of the new new new Doctor.

"Hello? Doctor! Can you hear me?"

Sam opened his eyes and found himself looking into the face of a young blond girl.

"Doctor? We need to get back to the Tardis. We have to find out who those gunmen were and why they were shooting you."

"W-what?" Sam looked down and saw deep bloodstains on the pinstripe suit he was wearing.

"Oh boy."


	2. Chapter 2

Still don't own QL or DW.

Sam sat up and the girl helped him to his feet. He almost collapsed immediately.

"Whoa." She helped him support himself. "C'mon. Let's get back to the Tardis."

"Wha?" Sam's head was still spinning. This wasn't like any other leap he'd had before. At least he had felt normal. Maybe the gunshots…

Sam remembered he was supposed to be injured, and reeled over, clutching his chest.

"Hey!" The girl knelt down beside him. "Are you alright? Is it the regeneration cycle?"

"Uh… yeah. That must be it. That and the fact I was just shot."

"Wait, shouldn't the bullet wounds have healed?" The girl began undoing his suit and before Sam could resist, she was examining his chest.

"No, nothing. They've healed fine." She stopped suddenly, and flushed, embarrassed. Maybe this was inappropriate for her. She helped him to his feet, and Sam began buttoning up his jacket.

"Thanks Rose." He said without thinking.

"Well, at least you remember me." Rose smiled.

"Wait… I do remember you." Sam breathed. Suddenly, his head was filled with information. Images, faces, voices, all racing around in his mind. It was too much for him to cope. He clutched his head with his hands.

"Doctor!" Rose grabbed his arm. "Doctor, what is it?"

"Too… much… information!" Sam said through gritted teeth. I… can't cope!" With a huge mental shove, he pushed the information racing around in his head away. He stood there panting for a while, Rose still clutching his arm. He turned to her slowly.

"Rose…" He muttered, and fainted.

Sam opened his eyes to a green-blue blur. He blinked, and the world around him sank into a room. But it was a room he recognized. Sam Beckett didn't recognize a thing, but there was something else in the back of his mind, another set of memories.

He sat up, and saw Rose standing near a control panel – the Tardis control panel – looking worriedly at him.

"Good, you're awake." She came a knelt down beside him.

"How long have I been out?" Sam asked

"About an hour." She replied, and Sam noticed for the first time that she had a Cockney accent. "I'd better get you a cup of tea. Worked wonders last time, remember?"

"Yeah." Sam vaguely remembered waking up to the smell of freshly brewed tea – but it wasn't his memories. What was going on?

Rose went of to get the tea through a door to the side of the huge control room.

Sam got to his feet and began pacing the room. He had memories of this place. The Tardis. His ship. The Doctor's ship.

"So I'm the Doctor." Sam said to himself. "But Doctor Who?"

"Boy, do you look a sight for sore eyes." Sam span around, and saw Al, dressed in a red suit a clutching a cigar in his right hand.

"Al! What is going on here, I was just out there, and I was shot, and now I'm here and what's going on?"

"Don't ask me! We had a hell of a time tracking you down at all! There's no information on you. So far as Ziggy knows, you don't exist."

"Well, that's helpful." Sam huffed. "I can tell you stuff though. I'm the Doctor, I've just regenerated into my 11th form and I'm standing in the control room of my Tardis. Whoa!" Sam reeled back; afraid he was going to be overwhelmed by information again. But he was fine.

"Sam… How can you know all this stuff?"

"I don't know, I just don't know! I've got so many memories…"

"Of this guy? The Doctor?"

"Yes. Well, no. Well, not this Doctor. Well…" Suddenly a new memory hit Sam like a bullet.

"Oh my God." He turned to Al. "The Doctor is a Time Lord, from the planet Gallefrey. He travels around in space and Time in the Tardis… his spaceship. Al, I've leaped into an alien."

At that moment, Rose walked back in with the tea.

"Whoa, if only I was a little younger." Al breathed.

"And not 15 years in the future." Sam reminded him.

"Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? I mean you don't come across a body like that every decade."

"Hey, you're gonna get a smack in a minute!" Rose said, speaking directly to Al, who did a double take as he realised who she was talking to.

"Uh… who're you talking to?" Sam asked.

"That guy right there! Doctor, are you sure you're alright?"

"Uh… Sam I'd betta get back and see if we can get this sorted out." Al said, nervously.

"Don't bother, Al." Sam stopped him. "You won't be able to modify the holographic emitter at all. The Tardis translates all frequencies, languages and whatever. Its also telepathic, linked into the Doctor's brainwaves, and now mine. That means it picks up the signals your holographic emitter sends out. That means she can see you." Sam turned to face Rose. "And she can see me, too."

"Oh boy." Al said.

"Gushie! Gushie what the hell's going on here?" The man in the red suit said, seemingly to the ceiling. He spoke in an American accent, and now, she noticed for the first time, so did the Doctor.

"Gushie can't help, Al." The Doctor interrupted. "The Tardis computers are too complex for us to interfere with. They work on a lever of psychic contact with the Doctor, and so only he can work it."

"And how the hell do you know that?" Al retorted, not calming down one bit.

"The Doctor is a Time Lord, and Time Lords can regenerate themselves. Somehow I absorbed the memories of all his former selves."

"Oh, I don't believe this! It was had enough when you leaped into that chimp, and now you say you're an alien?"

"Doctor, please tell me what's going on." Rose felt like she was about to burst with frustration. The Doctor and Al looked at each other.

"I suppose the Quantum rules don't apply here." Al said.

"Right." The Doctor turned to Rose. "You'd better sit down. And I think you'll need that tea more than I do."

Al walked back through the door of the imaging chamber. Sam had begun to explain everything to Rose, and all the techno-babble was giving him a headache. He still couldn't quite figure out how Quantum Leaping worked.

"Is he alright?" Gushie hurried up to him. "We're picking up major interference from where he is."

"He's in a spaceship. It's a long story." He stopped Gushie before he could ask how. "How's the real Doctor, anyway?"

"Not so good. He has bullet wounds puncturing his ribs and a couple in his stomach. He's in surgery right now."

"Make sure he recovers." Al pressured. "If he's gone then Sam'll never leap."

"So, you're not really the Doctor, but a human who learnt to Time Travel in the '90s." Rose summarized. She wasn't altogether surprised. Since she met the Doctor, nothing seemed to surprise her anymore."

"That's right. I'm from the year 1999, six years in your past."

"That's the bit I don't get, though. I was alive in 1999, and it was nothing like you describe it."

"Your 1999 wasn't, but mine was. I'm from a separate universe, one that split apart from yours at a certain point in time. The theory is complicated, but the Tardis is able to travel between these parallel universes. When it was pulled off course it didn't just go to 1985, but it went to the 1985 of my universe. Are you with me?"

"Sort of." Rose's head was spinning. It was enough of a concept to grasp that the Tardis travelled in time, but parallel universes? "So, this experiment, Quantum Leap." She changed the subject. "You can't ever get home?"

There was a pause. "We don't know." Sam replied finally. "Maybe after one leap I'll just wake up as myself again."

Rose felt sorry for Sam. He had left his whole life behind him and was randomly becoming other people. At least she could go home when she wanted to. She didn't think she could bear a life like Sam's, to never be able to see her family again.

"So, where is the Doctor? When you leaped into him, where did he go?"

"He leaped into my body, back at the Quantum Leap Project Base." Sam explained. He should be fine. He was regenerating when I leaped, so the bullet wounds should have healed too."

"So when you do what you came here to do, you'll leap and I'll get the Doctor back?"

"Yeah. Hold on… yes. Yes it would work!" Sam leapt up and ran to the control station. His hands flew around the controls and the Tardis engines started up.

"C'mon. C'mon. This has to work!" Sam coaxed the Tardis on as it dematerialized.

Outside, one of the gunmen watched the space machine disappear. His mistress would not be happy. Yet he must report it to her. The gunman turned and hurried towards the meeting point. His mistress would not be happy at all.

"What do you mean you can't find Sam?"

"I don't know, he's just… gone!" Gushie was hurrying around checking monitors. "He hasn't leaped, but he isn't in 1985 anymore."

"Well find him again!" Al yelled. Sam said the Tardis could travel through time. They could only find him if he had gone into the past. If he had gone into the future they would never find him.

Al paced up and down, taking a deep breath of his cigar. What if Sam had accidentally pressed the wrong control and blown himself up? What if he changed history? What if…

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp grating noise that filled the room. He spun round to find himself face to face with an old Police Public Call Box.

"What the hell…" Gushie joined him staring at the large blue box. The doors opened… and Sam stepped out, still dressed in the bloodstained suit.

"Hi Al. I'm back." He grinned.


End file.
